The Special Ones
by 823freckles
Summary: Jack: We have to go back! Spoilers up to and including the season 3 finale. SawyerxKate and DesmondxClaire


Title: The Special Ones  
Fandom: LOST  
Pairings: main: Sawyer/Kate, secondary: Claire/Desmond  
Rating: pg-13  
Disclaimer: I don't own any LOST characters, don't sue.  
Summary: "We have to go back!" Spoilers up to and including the season 3 finale.  
Author's Notes: If this seems like a lot of info condensed into one short fic, well, it is. That is why I decided to make this a series if the response to this fic is positive.  
Thanks as always to my lovely beta, Emma.  
Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

---

James was thinking about pickles (dill) and ice cream (chunky monkey) when he felt something collide with his lower left leg.

"What the…"

He looked down and saw a blonde boy wrapped around his calf. James bent down and lifted the 4-year-old up in the air, which elicited a little shriek of pleasure. Then he settled the boy on his hip.

"How you doin,' Cowboy? Is your mom around here somewhere or are you doing the grocery shopping all by yourself now?"

He giggled and pointed to the blonde woman now running down the frozen foods aisle toward them.

"Aaron, I've told you before, don't run away from me! You scare mommy when you do that!" She stopped her cart in front of the pair and smiled. "Hello Sawyer. I talked to Kate yesterday-congratulations!"

James put Aaron down next to his mother. "Thanks. We're tellin' Jamie tonight. Don't know how the kid's gonna take the news." He cleared his throat and asked, "How are you and the munchkin doing, Claire?"

"We're great. Aaron just started preschool."

"Mommy wouldn't leave preschool for three whole hours," Aaron interjected as he ran around the shopping carts, arms stretched wide, muttering "I'm flight 815, I'm flight 815!"

James laughed at the boy, but when he looked up at Claire, his tone was serious. "And how is…"

Claire interrupted him. "He's not good. He thinks…Sawyer, he thinks our father's still alive."

"James felt a tug on his t-shirt. "Aunt Katie's with Uncle Jack right now. At the airport." Aaron resumed his play. "Oceanic flight 815 ready for take-off!"

James clenched his fists and bit the inside of his cheek. He knew Kate cared about the damn Doc, but he was clearly losing it. He was dangerous and if he did anything to his wife, it didn't matter that he'd taken a vow to Kate or how he'd cleaned up his act, he'd kill Jack if he hurt her.

"I'm trying to get him back into rehab. But he doesn't think anything is wrong." A tear ran down the blonde's cheek.

James felt extremely uncomfortable. "Well, Claire, if you need any help getting him to go, you know where we are." His offer of help felt pathetic upon leaving his lips, especially since he hoped Claire wouldn't take them up on his offer, so that Kate would not be distracted by Jack and his drug problems. She needed to focus on them, on their daughter, on taking care of herself and the baby she was expecting.

"Thank you. We should get going. Des will be wondering where we are. Tell Kate I said hi. Bye, Sawyer."

"Tell Jamie I said hi!" peeped Aaron.

James watched Claire and her son walk away, then grabbed the pickles and ice cream his pregnant wife had insisted he pick up on his way home from work and headed to the checkout.

---

James knocked on the door of his neighbor's house. Mrs. Nicholson opened the door, peering cautiously around the chain at him, then opened the door wide. "Jimmy Ford! Come on in! I assume you're here for Jamie. Your wife, such a charming lady, said you'd be by! Hope you don't mind, I fed Jamie dinner and a bit of cake. Let me get you some to take home with you. Jamie is in the family room."

The little old lady hobbled into her kitchen, and James went into the family room to retrieve his daughter. He tiptoed into the family room, hoping to surprise his daughter, even if he knew he never could. As he'd expected, Jamie was already facing the entryway. "Hey little lady," he said, sweeping up his daughter into his arms and tickling her sides.

"Daddy, don't, Daddy don't!" she giggled. He loved making his daughter laugh. It made her dimples even more obvious.

"Okay, okay, I won't tickle you, but it's gonna cost you!"

His daughter looked up at him, her hazel eyes wide and serious. "What's it gonna cost me Daddy?"

"Hmmm," James pretended to think. "How about…a big hug and kiss?"

"I can do that!" the little girl said, and wrapped her arms around her father.

Mrs. Nicholson walked back into the family room with a Tupperware dish full of chocolate cake and Jamie's bag of toys. "I almost forgot! Congratulations Jimmy, on the baby you two are expecting. How far is she along?"

"How'd you know?" James asked.

"Well, Jamie of course! She told me she is getting a little brother."

Of course. His very special girl knew about the baby. To think he'd been worried about telling her; he should have known that Jamie would already know. And he had no doubt that Jamie was right about the sex of the baby. A shiver ran up his spine; he was getting a son. "Well, she's only two months along Mrs. Nicholson. So unless Jamie knows something we don't," He paused to wink at his daughter, "Then I guess we'll have to wait and see whether she is getting a brother or sister."

"She's such a dear, such a smart little dear! Such an imagination too! Well, tell your wife congratulations from me, son."

---

He heard the front door latch quietly. He waited, continued washing the dish he was holding, tensing up when he felt arms slip around his waist.

"Hey baby."

James put the dish down, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I ran into Claire and Aaron at the grocery store. Aaron tells me you went to see the Doc tonight." He realized how absurd it sounded that he was using a four-year-olds' word against his wife.

"You told me you weren't going to see him again, Freckles."

She buried her face against his chest, and he felt wetness through his thin shirt. He lifted her crying face and sighed, kissing away her tears.

"He's so sick, James. He's so sick, and I don't know how to help him."

"It's not your responsibility, Freckles." He placed his hand on her stomach. "This is your responsibility."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, softly and slowly at first, then deepening the kiss. Then she pulled away, causing him to groan in frustration.

Jamie was standing next to her mom. James lifted the girl, placing her on the kitchen counter. "This little lady knows about the b-a-b-y." He spelled out that last word, and Jamie piped up, "Baby! My baby brother, Mommy!"

Kate laughed, wiping away the last few tears on her face. I guess we should have known, James. We can't keep a secret from this girl, she's just too clever!"

She gazed at her daughter lovingly. "A boy, huh? What are we going to name your brother, Jamie?"

"Aaron!"

"Now I ain't naming my son after your little boyfriend," James teased.

Daddy, you're mean!" Jamie shrieked, but she was smiling as she said it.

---

As they lay in bed, James twisted a curl of his wife's hair around his fingers. "What was his excuse to get you to meet him this time?"

Kate turned her sad eyes to her husband. "He says we have to go back. To the island."

A low growl escaped his lips. "Just you and him? Or all of us? Does he want you to take your daughter back there? Does he expect his sister to go back? To take Aaron back there, where they were always trying to take him? That's bullshit, Freckles, and you know it."

"He says we all have to go back. But especially Aaron and Jamie."

"Why? Why them?"

"He says...he says that they are in danger. Their…gifts…are in danger, when they aren't on the island."

James' nostrils flared. "You don't believe that, do you Freckles?"

Kate kissed him, kissed him like she was kissing away his fears. "Of course I don't James. Our place is here, together." She slid on top of him, down onto him, and as she rocked against him, he forgot about everything but his wife, her beautiful face bathed in the moonlight filtering through the window.


End file.
